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A. A.'DIGKSON. METHOD [FE-REDUCING METALLIC SAND 0R PULVERIZED No. 569,821.

GEES.

Patented Oct. 20, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AROHIBALD, A. DIOKSON ,OF TORONTO, CANADA.

METHOD OF REDUClNG METALLIC SAND OR PULVERIZED ORES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 569,821, dated October 20, 1896.

Application filed September 9 1896. Serial No. 561,985. (No specimens) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARCHIBALD ANDERSON DIOKSON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of Toronto, in the county of York and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin the Reduction of Metallic Sands and Pulverized Ores, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the treatment of metallic sands and pulverized ores for the purpose of facilitating the economical reduction or smelting thereof; and it consists in an improvement upon the method or process in the same art set forth in my application for United States Patent, filed April 13, 1895, Serial N0..5-l5,63l.

In carrying out the present process, as in the method covered by my said former application, I use peat as a binding medium for the metal-bearing sands or ores and combine these materials in the form of evenly-pressed blocks; but in the present case, after such blocks are formed, I propose to reduce them to a charred or carbonized condition in a retort preparatory to the final operation of smelting in the reducing-furnace. This carbonizing operation will eliminate, by destructive distillation, practically all of the volatile elements, such as tar, oils, and gases, indigenous to the peat, without destroying the structure of the blocks or consuming the fixed carbon of the fiber, the result being the production of integrally-combined finely-divided ore or metallic sand and charcoal of a superior grade in blocks of great density and hardness and capable of withstanding the maximum heat and remain incandescent in the reducing-furnace without disintegration until the constituent metals have become melted and properly fused, as the carbon will at the same time supply all the necessary combustiblematerial or fuel for the operation. These carbonized blocks may be formed at the place of deposit of the metallic sand or ore and transported any distance to the smelting-works, if found necessary, and will in such case constitute an important and val uable article of commerce, besides affording the readiest opportunity for first recovering the valuable by products which are well known to be contained in the peat.

I will now describe my improved process in such detail that those skilled in the art may readily put the same into practice, referrin g to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, and which represents a vertical sectional elevation of a suitable apparatus for preparing and compressing the combined ore and peat into the form required for the preliminary treatment in the retort.

' The peat is preferably dried naturally (but I may employ artificial means) and the constituent moisture in this way reduced to about the atmospheric degree, and then crushed or broken up and the metal-bearing sand or ore mixed therewith and such mixed materials compressed into blocks by the method and apparatus devised by me for treating metallic sands above referred to and set forth in my former application, that is to say, it is essential that the peat shall be dry and cold at the time of mixing and that no artificial heat shall be applied in forming the blocks.

Previous to compression I mix the prepared peat With the metallic sand or pulverized ore, as the case may be, in such proportions as may be deemed desirable, and stir them together in a suitable mixer, being careful to see that the materials are thoroughly and evenly incorporated.

The drawing shows a pair of rolls A for crushing the raw peat after it has been dried, a picker B for further dividing it and removing the sticks and useless roots, and a compressing device consisting of forming tubes or molds 0, open at both ends and of the same diameter (which is that of the blocks) throughout their length, with plungers D operating therein to pack and compress the mixed materials by successive strokes (one stroke for each block formed) as it is fed into the inlet ends of the tubes.

By using vertical forming-tubes, as shown, the gravity of the mixed peat and ore aids in furnishing charges of material each of even density from top to bottom and side to side,

its

and this arrangement also helps to reduce undue friction and assist in the easy delivery of the blocks.

I have shown three sets of forming devices to illustrate different positions in the pressing operation. Each of the tubes will be furnished with a closely-fitting but yielding resistance-block R, which will prevent the first charge of loose material from immediately discharging at the outlet end and afford a base upon which the first block can be formed. lVhen the plunger has retired, a fresh charge of material will be ready at the inlet end of the forming-tube to be forced in at the next stroke and to form a second block upon the base offered by the first block, the resistanceblock R having been forced forward. Each succeeding charge of material forms a block of itself in contact with but separate from the preceding block, and when a sufficient number have been formed the first resistance-block will be automatically ejected from the forming-tube,and the operation proceeds, forming one block upon another, so long as the feed of material continues, the blocks being successively ejected from the tube, as will be readily understood.

The blocks of mixed peat and metal-bearing material so formed are extremely dense and non-friable, and although they may be of uneven lengths, (which is not undesirable,) according to differences of densityin individual lots of raw material, the full stroke of the plunger is given to each charge, and the yielding resistance being always the same a uniform pressure is given to all of the blocks, and their consistency and density will invariably be the same throughout.

The peat and metal-bearing materials,bein g thus combined into a highly-combustible but hard and non-friable form, are placed in any suitable retort and there subjected to destructive distillation sufiicient to liberate and remove the volatile elements, such as tar, oils, gases, &c., and the acids, and to char or carbonize the fiber or fixed carbon without disintegrating or breaking down the blocks or freeing the m etal-bearing particles therein contained.

The resultant product is a hard and dense block of fixed carbon embodied with metalbearing sand or ore, possessing ample carbon to serve as fuel in a red ucin gfurnace, in which a suflicient number of blocks are now placed and the charge subjected to the action of fire. By the incandescence and consumption of the constituent fixed carbon in such an intimate contact with the metal-bearing particles the constituent metals are melted and formed into globules, which fuse and are run off in the ordinary way known to those skilled in the art of smelting metals.

By my present improvement I avail myself of all the benefits arising from the use of charcoal in the reduction of iron and other metals, while reducing the labor of feeding the furnace, insuring even and thorough combustion and fusion, economizing in cost of fuel, and enhancing the efficiency of the method of using peat in connection with the recovery of metals from sands and finely-divided ores; and, furthermore, I produce a new article of manufacture and commerce in the block of combined charcoal and ore, as such blocks can be disposed of to smelting-works, being complete in themselves and remaining intact and unimpaired by storage for any length of time.

I do not limit myself to the precise details of the operation nor to the means above described for producing the beneficial results stated, as they may be varied without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of my invention.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

The improved art or method of reducing metallic sands, or pulverized ores, in connection and combination with peat-charcoal as a binding and combustible material, which consists, essentially, in the following sequence of operations, viz: first, drying the raw or natural peat sufficiently to deprive it of all but the atmospheric degree of moisture; second, breaking or separating it into fragments; third, incorporating or mixing such peat with the metallic sands, or pulverized ores while both materials are perfectly cold; fourth, causing such combined materials to fall by gravitation into a forming-tube, or mold in evenly-disposed successive charges, and subjecting such charges therein to vertically-ap plied compression against a yielding resistance, whereby the formative pressure upon all of the successively-formed blocks shall be the same irrespective of varying density of such charges, and evenly-hard blocks separate blocks are produced; fifth, eliminating the volatile elements by charring or carbonizing such blocks in a retort; and sixth, subjecting such carbonized blocks to the action of fire in a reducing-furnace for the recovery of the metals, substantially as set forth.

AROHIBALD A. DIOKSON. lVitnesses:

JAMES R. SILLIMAN, A. W. ANGLIN.

ICC 

